Lifelong Learning Festival

We look forward to welcoming over 650 participants from over 95 UNESCO member countries to Cork City Hall from Monday 18th to Wednesday 20th September 2017 for the Third UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities. Here is a look at what delegates and attendees can hope to explore as referenced by Lonely Planet http://bit.ly/2uy3tKz

Find our more about #LearningCities here http://learningcities2017.org/Cork Institute of Technology is delighted to be a local partner for Cork Learning City 2017.

As part of Cork 2017 Conference on Learning Cities, Cork Lifelong Learning Festival will host of Lifelong Learning Festival Showcase on Wednesday, 20th September at various locations across the city.

Cork’s Lifelong Learning Festival, now in its 14th year, promotes and celebrates learning of all kinds across all age groups, abilities and interests, from preschool to post retirement.

For the latest updates, check out the festivals social media pages!

The festivals aims are:

• to celebrate those already participating in learning of all kinds;
• to raise awareness of the huge range of options there are all over the city for others to get involved.

The festival is organised by a steering committee drawn from the Cork City Learning Forum, set up by the Cork City Development Board, which brings together all the learning stakeholders in the city. Festival Patron is the Lord Mayor of Cork. Its main sponsors are Cork City Council and the City of Cork Vocational Education Committee (VEC).

Lifelong learning is not only about adult and continuing education, and is more than acquiring skills and qualifications – it’s a process which lasts throughout our lives, and includes all kinds of learning – from crafts, IT, languages, to the arts, sports and a whole lot more. Learning can broaden an individual’s social circle and can also contribute to the development of a sense of community.
The festival promotes and celebrates learning in all its many forms, and encourages take-up amongst people from all ages and backgrounds. It particularly targets those not usually attracted to education and training of any kind. Through a huge number of events, all free, it demonstrates the many opportunities for learning there are throughout Cork City.

Overall, the festival promotes the idea that learning is fun and is not necessarily about gaining a qualification, although it can be, but is also about making life more fulfilling and enjoyable. More than 450 free and different events will take place during the 2015 festival right across the city and suburbs, with a little Fringe festival in outlying towns including Carrigaline & Midleton.

The Cork festival is twinned with Féile an Phobail, the community festival in Belfast and together they are involved in a number of cross-border, cross-community projects. It is also developing a relationship with the Hume Global Learning Village in Melbourne, Australia.